Never cancel a one-to-one!

One of the most important leadership traits is the ability to see the individual members of a team.

To listen and take a genuine interest in each person.

To understand what they are good at and help them make the most of that.

To consider how you can remove obstacles for each person, so they can do a better job.

To create the conditions needed for everyone to maximise their contribution to the organisation’s vision and purpose.

And in order to do so, there is hardly anything more important than sticking to scheduled one-to-ones and team meetings. What you’re doing is signalling that this is important because they, your team members, are important.

Yes, we know it can be easy to cancel because of a busy schedule, some emergency that comes up, but don’t be tempted, don’t do it!

Think again, and remind yourself that the biggest part of your job description after all is making sure your team can do their job and feel important and valuable in the process – this creates engagement and drive, a vital component in successful teams and business.

So, let’s ring-fence those team meetings and one-to-one’s and make them count. It seriously pays off.